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Tuesday, July 18th, 2006

Ramblin' Jack Elliott garners praise from the press!

FOLK ICON RAMBLIN’ JACK ELLIOTT EARNS RAVE
REVIEWS FOR I STAND ALONE

“NATIONAL TREASURE” PLOTS HIGH PROFILE PERFORMANCES

American folk legend Ramblin’ Jack Elliott is drawing some of the best praise of his career with I Stand Alone, his Anti- Records debut and first album in seven years. Released July 11th, accolades for the disc – which Ellliott is supporting through select, high profile North American performances – have been mighty and plentiful.

Enduring folk figure Elliott – who was mentored by and collaborated with folk music pioneer Woody Guthrie and at age 75 has five decades of genre authenticity under his guitar strap – has delighted a new generation of genre loyalists. As evidence, RELIX proclaimed I Stand Alone “as sweet as ever”; American Songwriter called RJE “a national treasure”; and ALARM insisted, “Appreciate this living icon while you can, because folk music doesn’t get any more real than Ramblin’ Jack Elliott.”

On I Stand Alone, Elliott – a Grammy winner (for 1996’s Southcoast) and a recipient of the 1999 National Medal of Arts from President Clinton – receives the sparse accompaniment of modern artists like Flea, Lucinda Williams, Wilco’s Nels Cline, David Hidalgo, Sleater-Kinney’s Corin Tucker and X’s DJ Bonebrake. Additional compliments for the project are as follows:

“ I Stand Alone ranks among his very best efforts. His voice is richer now that it's aged; it's full of authority, wisdom, and a certain kind of madness……It's a fantastic introduction to Elliott for newbies, and authoritative proof that he's not only still got it, but he just keeps getting better.” – All Music Guide

“Now a feisty 74, this folk icon has just made one of his best albums, which, in a career spanning more than 20 records and 50 years, is saying quite a bit…..I Stand Alone distills Elliott’s artistry to its very core (and it’s very best)…..An album that masterfully dusts off the legend of one of America’s musical treasures…” – BOSTON GLOBE

“I Stand Alone removes him from the slick studio settings of his last couple of albums and puts his impetuousness and eccentricity front and center. Many of the cuts are just voice and guitar, marked by Elliott’s idiosyncratic time measurements and creaking, croaking voice, which ranges from loopy to unexpectedly heartfelt. Elliott has recorded a lot of these songs before, but from the playful vamp of Hoagy Carmichael’s “Hong Kong Blues” to the prairie howl of “Leaving Cheyenne,” He tells each story and finds each feeling as if for the first time... A self-invented character, he virtually oozes personality and is blessed with the storytellers gift.” – LOS ANGELES TIMES

“There’s no doubt that Ramblin’ Jack Elliott represents a different time in America, a bygone era of campfire hootenannies, boxcar trains and true outlaws. The moment he lets out that gravelly, whiskey-soaked bawl, you’re transported to both the Old West and the days, a half-century ago, of his first album Woody Guthrie’s Blues. Elliott, soon to be 75, remains a drifter and desperado at hear – and a storyteller in the great frontier tradition.” – Vanity Fair

On July 22nd in Bristol, Tennessee, Ramblin’ Jack will tape an appearance for the Mountain Stage radio and television programs. His performance will be distributed for Fall 2006 broadcast to over 100 public, college and commercial affiliates, XM Satellite Radio and worldwide via the Voice of America. On June 24th he performed to 4 million faithful listeners of Garrison Keillor’s Minnesota-based A Prairie Home Companion program.